Preschool
What We Saw: A ballerina came
into the classroom from the local Ballet Company. In one
activity she had the children stretch the muscles in their
eyes, mouths, hands, feet and other parts of their body.
Another activity had the children pretending to be very
tiny and then growing into a tree, ranging from little
to huge. The children squealed with delight when she had
them pretend to put peanut butter on the bottoms of their
feet and put them together in a yoga position to make
a peanut butter sandwich. After reading the story Pinocchio,
the ballerina had the children dance to various rhythms
of music using props such as ribbons and pretend lollipops.
Blue material served as an ocean that children went under
and leapt over. Children and adults smiled with joy as
they danced.
What It Means: Bringing in outside
resource people can be valuable to both children and teachers.
A resource person can bring new energy and ideas into
a classroom. This resource person provided a bibliography
of related books and tapes to the classroom. The children
were very excited about learning new ways to move their
bodies and dance. The teacher gained new ideas to use
in the future with children. This activity was a great
way to encourage creative expression and an appreciation
of the arts in children. It has other benefits too: learning
to move slowly or faster to different rhythms helps children
attain impulse control, a crucial component of
learning self-regulation.
Back
More Music/Creative
Dramatics Promising Practices
